Well, I had purchased two Tram Browning 1481 antennas, about 9 months apart, from two different suppliers.
After about two years or so, the first Tram 1481 developed a high SWR, and became unusable.
I had taken it apart and found nothing wrong with it, except when I removed what looks to be PVC pipe, as apposed to what the package calls high quality Fiberglass, I found two droplets of water.
Well, now the second Tram 1481 has also developed a high SWR, again after having it about 2 years.
I did like these antennas, as they seemed to have good gain, both in receive and transmitted range, and they seemed to work well.
However, both of them have high SWR now, and seem unusable.
I am afraid that I can't recommend these antennas, as they seem very unreliable, as mine developed high SWR after about two years of use, on 20 feet of mast, mounted to the side of the trailer home that I live in.
I was getting into repeaters 90 or more miles away, using either the 55-watt Yaesu FT-1900R, or the 50-watt dual-band Wouxun KG-UV920P-A, but now I can't even get into a repeater 45 miles away, with the high SWR, as when I heard someone say that I wasn't getting into the repeater, I then decided to check the SWR of the Tram 1481.
To me the antenna needs work and just didn't last very long.
73,
Bernie
----------------------
Earlier 2-star review posted by KC9YZR on 2015-06-01
I purchased one of these about two years ago, and when I put it together, I had to lightly tap, a few times, one of the PVC pipes on the carpeted floor, to get the metal rod to come out of the end of the PVC pipe, so I could then connect it to the next metal rod section, using the splice that you tighten with the Allen wrench.
The package stated that the antenna was made using high quality Fiberglass, but unless I am mistaken, or unless there are parts that you can't see, what I saw was PVC pipe, and the metal rods inside of the PVC pipe, along with foam padding around the rod, to help center the rod in the PVC pipe, and probably to prevent the rod from banging against the PVC pipe.
I do not know whether it was a good idea or not, but when I put the antenna together, I wrapped White pipe thread tape around the threads where the sections are put together, where you use wrenches to tighten the sections together, thinking that maybe it would prevent any water from getting into the PVC pipe. Of course I did think about the pipe "sweating," meaning during damp weather, and having the moisture accumulate inside of the pipe anyway, like when a glass of ice tea, or water, can "sweat" on the outside of it.
About one year later, last year, I decided to buy a second Tram Browning 1481, as I was using one with a Two Meter transceiver, and I was using a Hustler G6-440 with my 440 repeater, and the other one I started to use on a Dual-Band transceiver.
Since I noticed a difference in range, when I removed the G6-440 antenna from the repeater, and started to use the Tram 1481 with the repeater, that's how I started to use the second Tram 1481, with the 440 repeater, since it has almost double the claimed gain of the G6 on 440 MHz.
So, OK, I now have owned one Tram 1481 for about two years, and the other one I have owned for about one year or more, and they both were working just fine, until last week that is.
I was going to buy a third Tram 1481, so I could use it on my dual-band transceiver, as I was using the two meter transceiver for an Echolink node, and was using one Tram 1481 for that, and I was using the second Tram 1481 on the dual-band transceiver, so I could talk on that, without fooling with mike connections on the Two Meter rig, but I switched that Tram 1481 to the 440 repeater, for better gain on 440, so I could use a third Tram on the dual-band transceiver.
However, last Sunday, when checking into a Two Meter swap net, on a repeater that's about 45 miles away, the NCS stated that my signal was noisy, so I checked the SWR with my Two Meter antenna analyzer, and found that the SWR was high.
I thought that the PL259 connector was bad, on the transceiver end, but that wasn't it, then I thought that maybe the PL259 became loose on the antenna end, but that wasn't it, and I then connected the analyzer directly to the Tram 1481, using a double male connector, and the antenna tested high SWR.
I then took the antenna apart, and there were a few droplets of water inside of the bottom PVC section, but water didn't run out of it, and the foam wasn't wet that's around the antenna rod that's inside of the PVC pipe.
Anyway, I can't find anything wrong with the antenna, yet it has a high SWR, and I checked to see whether all of the splices were tight, and that all of the sections are together, but it still shows a high SWR, although, occasionally, it will show a good SWR down around 136 MHz, but still shows bad every where else, especially between 144 and 148 MHZ, when the other Tram 1481 shows a good SWR even around 151 or 152 MHz, and down to around 136 MHz or so.
I have now placed the two year old Tram 148 in the storage shed, and I am now using the G6-440 antenna again on the repeater, for now anyway, and am going to wait a few days, then I am going to take the Tram 1481 back out of the shed, to see whether "drying it out" has any affect on the SWR, as I can't see anything else wrong with it, unless there's some water trapped down in the base of the antenna, or something like that.
Anyway, the second Tram 1481, that I bought last year, is still working fine, but the first one, that I bought about two years ago, had a few droplets of water inside of it, plus has a high SWR right now.
So I am unsure how to rate this antenna. |